This is my first attempt writing an AAR playing the Guadalcanal scenario v1, using the beta (Sep 17,2016) release of WiTP (without Babes Modifications) myself as Allied player vs. AI, using the Justus2 Guadalcanal AI 044 Mod scenario IJ. Historical difficulty. One Day Turns.
Additional Scenario Settings
Fog of War: On
Advanced Weather Effects: On
Allied Damage Control: On
Player Def Upgrades: Off
Reliable USN Torpedoes: Off
No Unit Withdrawals: Off
Read this AAR at your own risk (of possible boredom). Comments & suggestions are welcome. Obviously this AAR will not be for everyone, as it is simply a novice player starting out with AE:WiTP. And yes agreed: Player versus Player is a far more interesting challenge, but of which I feel a preliminary game against the AI is required as a kind of 'Boot Camp' for my 'novice' status, hence the subtitle in the AAR, before graduating to a PvP game. I tend to be more verbose than I should be at times, so one of the initial goals of this AAR is to be more succinct in my summaries and thoughts. Preliminary Pre-1st Turn Activities
As most of you know, undertaking AE:WiTP for the first time is a daunting task, even for experienced gamers. Usually it is sufficient to just read the rules of a game and just get going within hours. And with modern computer games these days, people don't even read rules, they just get started (maybe with a few light tutorials). AE is a different beast. The rules manual is 329 pages in length (yes, a small novel) and you really have to read a good portion of the AE manual to get even a rudimentary idea of what is going on in WiTP. But even this I have found, is not quite enough to begin issuing orders from your Grand Admiral command seat (i.e. worn out computer chair) even after several cups of coffee.
So let's get started. Pre-1st turn activities:
1) Print out of the rules manual. Tabbing of key chapters (Naval Units, Ground Units, Bases, Spotting, Victory Conditions, etc) Written notes on margins that include changes made in new versions of the original application (quite a few) and underlining of key rules etc.
2) A slow and lengthy review of the Matrix Games Forum posts that provide much needed insight into how to use the game mechanics, that the rules manual does not provide in of itself. This includes the many AARs that players have generously posted (and thank you AAR'rs for that) serving I suppose as inspiration for my own AAR attempt here. As I have reviewed the WiTP forum posts and AARs I have taken notes and divided my notes into several categories and files that I can later come back to for review. Also I have reviewed and saved a number of player written guides one can find on these forums. Also invaluable when first starting out.
The categories of my note files & guides are as follows. I will post a screenshot of the directory I have saved the files in, and will resume the AAR in a second follow up post.
As in any wargame (or real life conflict) it's a good idea to (at least) get a general idea of your starting forces (and resources) ... your own and your opposition, and reinforcements scheduled for the game. I was somewhat conflicted on just how much of the 'OOB' I should be aware of before starting the Guadalcanal scenario - and after posting a question on the forums in this regard, received the reply that many Veteran AE players know (by memory and in detail) starting disposition of forces for both sides, and also reinforcement schedules, assuming you play standard historical non-random reinforcement schedule which I will be doing for my play-thru of GC.
Since the scenario description does not provide much detail of OOBs (for either side) it required me to log on as both the IJ player to get a general breakdown of IJ forces. I have decided to limit my knowledge of the IJ OOB to a certain amount (in order to enjoy some unpredictability of the war) so I took a simple count of naval ship types for each side, to get a rough idea of starting naval 'assets'. Air assets I did not count, other than knowing the general types of planes the IJ can fly out (such as Betty's and Kates) and their bombing/escort reach from the key IJ bases.
Naval Asset breakdown were as follow ... format is Type:(Allied count / IJ count)
I did not count the singleton ships, so will leave that up to Naval search missions. Again, a balance of fog-of-war versus knowing OOB in absolute detail was my general goal. I wanted a rough idea, but not everything in detail. Note: the counts may not be completely accurate here but I'm fine with that as well. The main ship types were the crucial counts. Most notably, the Allies start the GC scenario with 3 carriers and the IJ with none!
I will write more about the starting force dispositions later. But clearly, a quick review of the starting Naval forces show the scenario reflects the historical situation that the Japanese will be caught by surprise by superior Allied Naval forces in the general area. And the Allied player enjoys this superiority until IJ reinforcements begin arriving. And the IJ reinforcement schedule is actually important when developing my initial Allied strategy (and tactical considerations) for Guadalcanal.
A general ship type count of IJ reinforcements:
Day 1: 10 SS, 1 xAKL, 3 DD, 1 CS
Day 3: CL
Day 5: DD
Day 6: AV
Day 9: MGB
Day 10: SS
Day 12: 2 CVs, 1 CVL, 1 CVE, 3 BBs, AV, 9 CAs, 3CLs, 36DDs, 2 PCs, 3 AMc, 2 AKL, 5 SSs, 3 AOs, 2 SCs, 4 PBs,
9 AK
Day 22: Yamato, CL
IJ Naval reinforcements arrive at Truk. Thus giving the Allied player a few days before they arrive on scene.
But the key reinforcement day is obviously 12 days into the scenario. In essence, as the Allies I have a 12 day window of surprise on the IJ naval forces before force parity takes place (at least for Naval assets). Land air is still an obvious threat along with the 5 subs the IJs start off with (+10 SS on the first day!)
Alright will leave off here, and write more later. I will discuss the Victory Conditions and how I am working out my first orders for the first turn of the game for August 4th, 1942
Against DDs, your torpedo bombers are best armed with bombs. Fly them at 1000 feet for accuracy. Expect losses - on both sides!
Night naval search. Direct some up the Slot as well as to the north to detect the carriers.
If you can lay minefields, do so but judiciously.
S-boats are fine in shallow water and have good torpedoes but smaller warheads. Use any fleet boats as a picket line. Check the DL on them and try to figure out where the search is coming from. Also note the type of aircraft - float, land, and/or carrier which could also be on land.
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).” ; Julia Child
To see how deep a submarine can safely go to avoid depth charges, multiply the durability by 10 and that is the depth in feet. Officially that is . . .
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).” ; Julia Child
I started my campaign with a bit more fog of war on the IJN side...I limited myself to the wikipedia articles on the campaign...
Consequently, Ive got most of my carriers heavily damaged and in repair yards...
I read the Wikipedia article about a year ago but promptly forgot all the details. Probably will reread again shortly since I recall it being pretty thorough. Although these days, I'm not to sure Wikipedia is a good source of information for anything. I may get a book on the battle but I tend to buy a book and then let it sit on my shelves for 10 to 20 years before I actually read the book. So there's that problem too.
Sorry to hear about your carriers Dan! A cautionary tale 0.0
The Guadalcanal scenario starts on August 6, 1942 and ends on Feb 7, 1943 (although the in game description for the scenario says it starts on Aug 4th, go figure). It is not a short scenario (like the Coral Sea Scenario) – playing 1 day per turn the scenario will last for 185 days (or turns).
There are no sudden victory conditions (like there are in the Grand Campaign) and no actual land "capture the castle objectives". The scenario is basically whoever ends up with the most points at the end of 185 days is 'winner, winner'. Obviously, if one side pulls far far ahead, one can stop the scenario at any point (playing solo against AI that is easy to do) ... PvP would just be agreed upon (or you rudely 'ghost' your opponent, not advised).
Victory Points (VPs) are awarded the same as they are in the Campaign game: by inflicting loss, damage or capturing your opponent's ingame assets, including Ships, Planes, Bases, Military Units, and even Industry. Although thankfully, for the Guadalcanal scenario, Production/Industry is Off. (One less item to worry about.) Points awarded can vary depending on Base sizes, Durability of ships, type of aircraft, whether a ship was sunk or damaged, or scuttled, and so on.
I won't go into any further detail into the Victory Point scheme here, as anyone new to the game can refer to the manual to get the complete breakdown.
For the Guadalcanal scenario, given the 185 day time frame, if the game does not swing to wildly toward one side or another in regards to the destruction of military assets, the scenario really comes down to who owns a few key bases by scenario end date: Feb 7, 1943.
The scenario begins with the Allies controlling 27 bases, and the IJ controlling 23 bases. The majority of both side's bases will likely never change hands and will (probably) not be relevant toward the Victory conditions. The Allies begin the game with 4,647 VPs, the IJ with 6,213 VPs. A 1,566 starting VP advantage for the IJ player. The majority of the bases on both sides award VP values less than 20 points. But the few important bases in the game are worth thousands of VPs.
For the key bases, here is the breakdown (Underline is current owner of base):
Interestingly enough, Rabaul is not worth much at all in the Scenario, though it is the general base of operations for the IJ throughout the game, along with Truk. Losing either base would likely spell doom for the Japanese efforts, but neither offers many VPs. I do not list the Australian continental bases though a few are worth some chunk of change to the IJ player (especially Brisbane 850) but also very unlikely to be captured and if it is, the game will likely be pretty much be over for the Allies at that point.
Taking a closer look at the point values of each of the key bases, and the VP Swing, which one needs to remember, when a base is captured, not only the side who captured the base gets awarded VP points, but the side that loses the base gets subtracted VP points – so the 'Swing' as I call it gives you the shift of the difference of VP points if one plotted VP points linearly.
As one can see, Port Moresby and Lunga stand head and shoulders above the rest of the key bases. Even if one combines Milne Bay with Tulagi, the point differential is still almost half of what Lunga is worth.
Essentially, the Guadalcanal scenario pretty much hinges on who controls either Lunga or Port Moresby by the end of the game. If either of the bases flip control to your opponent, the VP Swing will be enough to offset any other 'key' base captures in the game – assuming again, there is not an abnormal amount of destruction of key military assets by one side or the other, or one side simply overruns the other side tactically, invading several rear bases at will.
So, although it may sound a bit boring: the Guadalcanal scenario pretty much is 185 turns of both sides fighting over just two bases for VP points. Other bases may be relevant for strategic or tactical purposes, but to win the VP game – you got to take one or the other bases. So the scenario is going to be a game of attrition over Lunga & Port Moresby. And therein, lies a tale to be told.
A.I.
I have decided to play the Japanese AI at Historical Difficulty (AI plays normally, no unique advantages). I plan to try to win the scenario (of course), but my main goal here is to continue my tutelage of WiTP and its steep learning curve, and familiarize myself with the game mechanics as much as possible – so I can then graduate to a campaign game against a biological AI opponent.
I will not be trying any kind of off-the-wall strategies, nor exploitive gambits like heading directly for Truk at the start of the scenario. I expect the AI will probably play along a fairly formulaic algorithm but at the time I write this, I am unfamiliar with what that algorithm may be (please don't spoil it for me if you do know). The goal here is to explore mostly the tactical nuances of the GC scenario that is primarily an attritional fight over two bases, and most likely just only over one: Lunga, at Guadalcanal.
Ok that's it for this AAR post #3. Note, this post is more for the newbie player who has no idea what the GC scenario is even about (like I was), or was asking themselves just what is required to actually be victorious in the scenario.
I will be posting a few more 'Pre-Turn 1' AARs before I proceed to processing Day 1. That is because there is quite a bit of "Set-Up' that must be done as the Allied player before I can actually get rolling.
My next AAR post will discuss what Allied military assets I begin with in the scenario, including supply and fuel resources, what I will be getting as reinforcements and how the default Task Forces and setup needs will need to be altered in order to start off on the right foot. Other Pre-Turn 1, 'Preparation' AARs will discuss my settings and plans with a wide range of elements in the game, from how I will task my Carrier Tfs, my Amphibious Tfs, how I will initially setup my ASW assets , and how I will handle my land based air, and very importantly, Naval Search areas. In addition, there is Mining and Mine sweeping, PP considerations and Leadership. I will need to consider whether I want to spend supply on upgrading bases (or not). Logistics. Cargo convoys ... and more that it's too late in the evening for me to think about right now.
There is a lot to do even before the game commences. I'll try to keep you posted.
Blocked a number of users today, as apparently, they are allowed to use Memes to ridicule someone, but if that someone uses Memes in response - well that's not allowed in their rulebook. Yeah, I know what it's like to live as a dependent of an alcoholic, and won't put up with it for a minute.
After playing a little of the Guadalcanal scenario in a PBEM setting, I'm convinced that the optimum IJ strategy is to completely ignore Guadalcanal and instead aggressively focus on Port Moresby.
A coup-de-main on Port Moresby as soon as possible is likely to generate positive results against the very weak defences and leaves Milne Bay (with its more substantial defence) to be digested later in the scenario.
After playing a little of the Guadalcanal scenario in a PBEM setting, I'm convinced that the optimum IJ strategy is to completely ignore Guadalcanal and instead aggressively focus on Port Moresby.
A coup-de-main on Port Moresby as soon as possible is likely to generate positive results against the very weak defences and leaves Milne Bay (with its more substantial defence) to be digested later in the scenario.
That sounds like a good strategy for the IJ. I am mostly playing the scenario for instructive purposes, plan on taking my time and reviewing the different mechanics of the game and recording those mechanics in the AAR. This could help other new players who decide to start with Guadalcanal as an instruction scenario as well.
Decided to play as the Allies since this seems like the most logical step for novices to WiTP. As playing the IJ in the campaign game seems pretty daunting given the 'Industry/Production' mechanics that you must manage ...
Been really busy last few days, but hope to get back to the game soon. Thanks for your comment Messing.
; Julia Child
